The present invention relates to an automatic processing machine for silver halide photographic light-sensitive material which processes a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material (hereinafter, referred also as a light-sensitive material), and more particularly, to an automatic processing machine for silver halide photographic light-sensitive material capable of ultra-rapidly processing, wherein stable photographic processing performance is obtained when varied sizes of silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials are processed.
The market of so-called photo-finishers, where photography is subjected to photographic processing, is becoming more and more diversified year after year. The photo-processing customers are rapidly shifting from the large-scale photo-finishing facilities to mini-labs where photographs are processed in a photography-specializing shop. In addition, it is increasingly common for even drug stores to conduct photographic processing in a corner of the shop. Both of a mini lab and a drug store lab satisfy the needs of customers in that finished papers can be returned on the same day or photographic processing is finished even while a customer is shopping. With this expectation, the demand on rapid processing is increasing.
If photographic processing is conducted in shops other than photography-specializing shops or an office, part-time workers and non-skilled operators, who do not specialize in photography, may use the machine. Therefore, each factor of a dry machine in which the number of processes using a liquid is few and the quantity of a liquid is little, simplification of maintenance, stable processing ability and downsizing of equipment due to the limited installing space becomes very important.
In aforesaid automatic processing machine for a mini-lab, in order to reduce loss of silver halide photographic light-sensitive material, it is common practice for the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material to be subjected to exposure and photographic processing after the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material is cut to a desired size before exposure. In addition, due to diversifying of how to enjoy photography, diversifying of print sizes has also advanced year by year. Therefore, it is a large benefit that various sizes of prints can be processed.
Ordinarily, in photographic processing, during a replenishing step in which a light-sensitive material is automatically dipped in a processing tank, a replenisher is replenished in a processing tank to be overflowed according to information about processing area of the light-sensitive material so that constant status (running condition) is formed. Therefore, the running condition becomes different depending upon the kind of light-sensitive material processed and the volume of processing. Accordingly, the processing liquid must be controlled. Every day, a check piece called as a control stripe is exposed with a standard exposure and developed. The density of the developed check piece is controlled by being compared with the reference value. Depending upon the control condition, it was necessary to discharge all liquids and replace them with new liquids.
In order to avoid the aforesaid complicated and specialized control, various systems in which tanks are not used while only the necessary amount of photographic processing liquids are fed onto the light-sensitive material have been proposed. Japanese Tokkaihei 2-79841 discloses a system to conduct photographic processing in which the processing liquid is impregnated in a sponge. Japanese Tokkaihei 2-79844 discloses a system to feed the processing liquid from a slit-shaped feeding port. Japanese Tokkaihei 9-43814 discloses a system to feed a photographic processor through a gas phase. Japanese Tokkaihei 2-99945 discloses a system to coat the processing liquid by the use of rollers.
The common problem of aforesaid systems is that it is difficult to add fed liquid uniformly into the light-sensitive material. Specifically, if liquid feeding is conducted in a small amount in order to reduce carry-over of developer into the next step or reduce effluent amount, to add fed liquid uniformly onto the light-sensitive material becomes rather difficult.
In order to shorten the processing time, the aforesaid coating unevenness becomes further prominent. In order to minimize coating unevenness, technologies of air blowing (see Japanese Tokkaihei 2-79846) and liquid diffusion by the use of a member such as sponge (see Japanese Tokkaihei 2-91645) are disclosed. However, in both cases, splashing of liquid and oxidation of the developer in the porous member occurs, causing serious problems when put into practical use. Therefore, solutions have been desired.
In order to minimize loss of a photographic paper, the mainstream of a recent mini lab machine is a cut conveyance type in which, after a photographic paper is cut prior to a printing step, aforesaid cut paper is conveyed to the printing step and a photographic processing step. Accordingly, the occurrence of coating unevenness of a processing liquid at the end of the cut paper results in a critical problem.